Makou-no-ko
by KiannaLeighMV500
Summary: My name is Amaterasu Arika Inugami Springfield. I am the only child of the heroes of the time period known as the Magical Shift, Kotaro Inugami and Negi Springfield. I am three-quarters human and one quarter noble dog-demon. I am, as my Eva-obasan likes to put it, a whole lot of trouble. T for violence and some language. Sequel to Partners.
1. Preamble

I do not own Negima. All rights to the original story and characters belong to Ken Akamatsu.

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Makounoko

The Daughter of the Dog-Mage

Preamble

In the year 2029, an ancient magical organization known as Cosmo Entelecheia began a process, known by the same name, to control the world. Cosmo Entelecheia means "perfect world" and the hex created by the group harnessed the magical energies of captured mages to forge a worldwide mind control spell. Those under control of the spell would be put to sleep and given a perfect world of their very own to live through until they died.

However, as this was a form of massive mind control and is unethical even given the noblest of reasons, Cosmo Entelecheia was opposed by the magical community. Their main opposing came from the warriors of Ala Rubra.

Ala Rubra (Crimson Wing) was made up of various freedom fighters, led by Nagi Springfield, the Thousand Master. They dealt Cosmo Entelecheia many severe blows but were eventually backed into a corner. In a last ditch effort on both sides to end this on-going war Cosmo Entelecheia created their ultimate hex-maker to weave their hex free of human assistance, while Nagi Springfield of Ala Rubra summoned to the battlefield his son, Negi Springfield.

Negi Springfield and his husband Kotaro Inugami – a human, dog-demon hanyou – went into the battlefield and single handedly infiltrated Cosmo Entelecheia's stronghold before destroying their hex-maker. The two narrowly escaped the collapsing mega structure.

Their escape also triggered a change the hex-maker's melt down. The captured mages, instead of being swallowed by the self-destructing machine, were spit out to all corners of the world. All were presumed to have survived but some have still not been found.

The whereabouts of Nagi Springfield are still unknown.

It wasn't until over half a year later, in the spring of 2030 that the second side effect of the collapse of the Cosmo Entelecheia's hex-maker was made apparent to the world. The magical world, centered on Mars, and the existence of magic in general was made know to the non-magical world.

The effect was something of a sensational media story at first but then as is human nature, neighbor turned against neighbor as suspicions and tensions rose. In the time spanning late May, June and early July of 2030 riots broke out across the world in response to the sudden divide of the human race and revelation of non-human peoples.

On July 26th, 2030, Negi Springfield, Kotaro Inugami and group of 29 young women – all of whom he had taught in middle and high-school previously – publically announced themselves as Ala Alba, a watchdog type task force that would work with the non-magical governments across the world to create unity between the magical and non-magical worlds.

The group disbanded rebel forces, put down riots and walked the diplomatic tightrope of the day. They were initially seen as a threat by non-magical citizens and many non-human citizens alike who each saw the group as servants of the other side. However, in true magister fashion they wandered the world helping both sides without expectation of reward or thanks and were eventually rewarded with increased public support. As the diplomatic members rose to important positions around the world, tensions eased a new era of the human race began.

Nearly eleven years passed without major incident.

Konoka and Setsuna got married and then set themselves to being field agents of Ala Alba, helping the sick and injured and making sure tension between the two types of the humans and various non-humans stayed low.

Ayaka was preparing to take over her family and their company. She was also courting Asuna. After years of fighting, the truth of the matter came to light. They had always had a bit of a crush on one another. Asuna was being pig-headed about it, of course. She said that marriage would interrupt her training with Evangeline. The strawberry blonde was going to be the vampire's heir – why an immortal needed an heir was beyond the knowledge of anyone but Evangeline herself – and thought that she needed to focus. Ayaka seemed more or less undeterred.

The rest of the former 2/3-A was scattered across the globe doing various tasks in connection with and separate from Ala Alba. Negi and Kotaro were stationed at Ala Alba Headquarters at Mahora Academy.

In the almost eleven years since the revelation of the magic world, they had taken up and quit teaching several times. They'd traveled the globe as diplomats and gone between Mars and Earth several times. Still, mostly they liked to continue teaching whenever they could, and in those years they managed to do one more thing.

Raise me.

My name is Amaterasu Arika Inugami Springfield. I am the only child of the heroes of the time period known as the Magical Shift, Kotaro Inugami and Negi Springfield. I am three-quarters human and one quarter noble dog-demon. I am, as my Eva-obasan likes to put it, a whole lot of damn trouble.

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Notes and translations:

Obasan with one a means aunt or middle-aged lady

For a larger view of the cover art, please go to deviantART at ** d5fo5rv** (remove spaces)


	2. Ama and her friends

Makounoko

The Daughter of the Dog-Mage

Ama-chan and her friends

Early July meant one thing.

Okay, no. That wasn't true. Early July meant a lot of things. First off, it began the first realistic countdown until summer vacation. Early July was the last of the first term of school for the year which lead into a six week summer break. Early July also meant summer clothes, swimsuits, dating, and general merrymaking.

All this merrymaking would of course be headed off by the annual Mahora Academy Summer festival. There would be music, food, dancing and of course, martial arts and magic contests. I could hardly wait.

I had been getting up early for weeks to train. Tad thought it was a nice change. He was convinced I was a slacker.

I wasn't a slacker, of course. I worked plenty hard. I just didn't feel the need to throw myself into adult life headlong like he had. Kaasan said Tad was just headstrong and that I had that same stubborn streak. I thought that they were both just being … well parents. I knew they were the heroes of the Magical Shift, but parents are still parents.

Anyway, getting up early wasn't something I liked to do and often, as soon as the weekend came around, I would sleep in. I was all curled up in bed, minding my own business when out of nowhere, bells went off.

I jumped nearly right out of my bed and almost landed on the floor. Luckily, my reflexes kicked in and I landed on my feet in bed after a bit of a flip.

Somehow it didn't surprise me to find Tetsu standing near my window with the source of the sound, a small alarm-like device.

"Turn that thing off!" I shouted at him.

Tetsu just grinned at me.

If there's one thing I couldn't stand in this world, it was that self-important jerk Tetsu's smug smile. He would stand there, blue eyes twinkling merrily from behind that stupid mop of curly blue-black hair like he was oh so cool.

He was not that cool.

He was barely twelve and thought he was some sort of lady killer. He also thought he was too smart for everyone. So what he skipped a grade? I could have done that, if I had wanted to be know-it-all like him.

"Damn it Te-kun turn it off! Kaasan'll have your head for making all that noise."

That got him to move and turn it off.

Tetsu was my aunt Nodoka's son. She wasn't really my aunt but she and my Tad were really close so Tetsu and I were raised pretty much together. Aunt Nodako was on Mars for work so Tetsu was staying at the Academy alone under the supervision of my Tad and Kaasan. He was deathly afraid of my Kaasan, and rightly so. He had threatened to beat him senseless once when he made me cry. Served him right, the jerk.

"What do you think you're doing entering a lady's bedroom uninvited?" I asked him as I got off the bed.

He snorted at that of course, "Lady?" he asked. "You're not a lady, and we're the same age."

"No," I corrected him. "You are twelve and I am thirteen years old. Practically a woman."

"First of all, you won't be thirteen until August, Amaterasu! Second of all, if you're a lady I'm a monkey because you flash your panties way more than any "lady" should."

At this I blushed, but switched right into defensive mode. I did tend to flash people, but in my own defense I was not made to wear the standard issue skirts of Mahora Academy.

"You keep looking, you pervert!" I crossed my arms over my chest. "You're just upset that that's all you ever get."

I thought that would have burned him, but he stared at me.

"Sorry to tell you this, M'am, but I'm not interested in women's bodies yet. Stop hitting on children, you dirty old woman."

"W-w-w-w-w-w-w" I couldn't begin to respond to that. I just stood there staring with the same stupid syllable falling out of my mouth.

Knowing he'd beat me, Tetsu smiled. "By the way, dummy, you got the days wrong. It's Saturday, not Sunday and we've got school in fifteen minutes." He turned to the window and waved. "Bye."

Unfortunately it still took me a few seconds to snap back from my defeat, and he was already out of shouting distance when I came to and rushed to the window.

"What do you mean IT'S SATURDAY?!"

Sure enough, it was Saturday, and I was late, late, late. I didn't bother with a shower and opted to put on yesterday's uniform, grab my bag and try to grab a bite to eat before school.

Usually, Tad made me cook meat before I ate it. He was very human in that way. But if it was an emergency he's let me steal some raw bacon and eat it on the way to school. It was a good way to keep my fangs sharp.

As I headed downstairs to the kitchen I began to hear singing. Tad was at the stove no doubt. He sung while he cooked. If I had gotten up I would have cooked and sung with him. I was sorry I'd slept in.

"Tad!" I shouted as I slid to a stop at the table. "Ohaiyou!"

I began to stuff some sausage and bread spread with jam in my mouth as he turned to me.

Looking at him was almost like looking into my future. Had I been born a boy, I suppose this is what I should have expected to look like down to a T: Long auburn hair tied at the base of his neck into a ponytail, happy brown eyes widened by his small, circle glasses, and boyish youth despite being middle aged, made worse by the clothing choices he made.

But I couldn't blame that all on his clothes. I made his youngness worse too. Calling him 'Niisan' in public turned a few heads and caused a few bristles to spring up on his person. He hated it, but it kept him young all the same.

Embarrassment was a child's duty, and at the very least, he didn't have to bear it alone. Kaasan got his full share too. After all, how many men get called 'Kaasan' in the middle of a busy sidewalk?

"What are you doing, Ama-chan," he scolded me. "You'll choke eating like that."

"No time talk. Late wake. School now. Ittekimasu!" I knew he hated when I ate like an animal, but I was late. What did he want from me?

From behind me, I could hear him calling. "Itterasshai! Have a good day!"

"Love ya, Tad!" was the last thing I said before closing the door behind me.

I ran all the way to school and ended up sick from it by the time I fell into my desk. Our homeroom teacher wasn't in the room when I got in, and I thanked my lucky stars for that. The sudden food in my stomach combined with the run had made me sick as heck.

"Are you okay, Ama-chan?" Someone whispered to me.

Sitting just to my left at school was Henrika. She was my actual cousin, my second-cousin really, the daughter of my Tad's older cousin Nekane Springfield whom he lived with before coming to Japan to teach.

Henrika was sweet, but a little unsure of herself. Being related to the famous Springfield's didn't help her budding inferiority complex. However, I never took her lightly. Something about her always gave me the impression she was going to snap one day and start acting like my Aunt Asuna, so I tried not to tick her off.

That was pretty easy to accomplish too, considering we'd been best-friends since we were five, and she came to the Academy to attend school when her mother began to teach.

"Henri-chan!" I groaned. "Woke late._** Testu!**_ Bells! Sausages! Ran to school. Ughhhhhhhhh!" I plopped my head on my desk and rolled back and forth in my chair.

"So … you woke up late. Did you think it was Sunday not Saturday?"

"Uh-huh."

Henrika shook her head. "You always do that, Ama-chan. Then you got woken up by Tetsu with some bells and probably fought."

Here, I growled.

"You lost," she said as she reached over to pat my shoulder. "Sorry to hear that."

That was one of the things I liked about my cousin. She always said she was sorry to hear I'd lost a fight with Tetsu but only ever said "Is that so?" to Tetsu when he lost. She loved me more! Ha!

"Then I guess you had sausage for breakfast. I bet you had break and jam with it, too."

My strength was returning, but I still felt like I was going to throw up so I nodded again.

"But you ran to school so you wouldn't be late – or in your case would be less late – and gave yourself a stomach ache."

"Mm-hmm."

"Oh poor baby. Do you want some juice?"

"You're too good to me, Henri-chan!"

"Yea she is."

Of course whenever Henrika showed me too much attention that jerk Tetsu had to butt in. He sat behind her for some reason, and I always forgot he was there until he said something.

"Why don't you shut up, butt head!"

"Whatever you say, Chichaku-san."

I hated when he called me that. I am not a "late arrival," and the nickname wasn't clever!

"I am not Chichaku-san!"

"No," he said but dropped his voice as the teacher came in. "You're a dirty old woman."

I turned in my seat, about to set that jerk straight once and for all, when the homeroom teacher, an old guy named Takahata-sensei called my attention to the front of the room.

Takahata-sensei was a sweet guy, but he was one of my Tad's mentors from when Tad first started teaching and my Aunt Asuna's former teacher. I couldn't get away with anything in his presence because of that. And somehow he was always near me in school. I was pretty sure that was Tad's doing. What did he think I was going to do? Run away?

"Now class," Takahata-sensei said with a smile. "Today in homeroom we need to figure out what our class is going to do for the school festival. Leading the discussion, of course, will be Class Representative Yukihiro Kaoru. Yukihiro-chan."

Whenever Kaoru-san got up to speak, I always sat up and listened.

Usually I treated school like nap time. I spent a lot of time training because I wanted to be a famous mage like my parents. School didn't factor into that equation. I could just read the books before bed and basically get by. I'm like my Tad in that I'm pretty good with memorization, so I never really bothered with things concerning school. I wasn't going to be an A student, but I didn't care about that in the least.

However, Kaoru-san and I were good friends. She was Aunt Ayaka's daughter with some foreigner and was passionately supportive of her mother marrying my Aunt Asuna. Because of that, she, Henirka and I spent a lot of time together.

Kaoru-san had blonde hair like her mother and the fairest blue eyes I'd ever seen. She was pale as a snowflake and light as a feather. Compared to me, one quarter dog-demon with heavy red-brown hair and muscles and scars at my young age because of training all the time, she was like some sort of angel. And she had this light song-bell voice to match.

"My fellow classmates," she began in clear sweet voice, "I've thought this out and I believe the best way to go about choosing a topic is come up with several ideas and vote on them. In the case we can't come to an agreement, we can simply put the ideas in a hat and choose randomly."

"That's a good idea, Kaoru-san!"

"It's perfect!"

"The best!"

I smiled. Kaoru was super popular because she was pretty and sweet. I found it an honor to know she could be rude when called to be. I'd seen her smack that jerk Tetsu half-way across the room before. It was awesome!

Kaoru-san smiled and nodded.

"So is there any suggestions?" she asked.

I immediately stood up.

"I've got an idea!" I practically shouted.

"I bet I can guess," Someone across the room cut in. "A martial arts demonstration."

A chorus of laughter started up around the room. Everyone knew I was fiercely proud of my parents and passionately involved in fighting. It had become something of a running gag among my classmates. Unfortunately, that had been my idea exactly. Of course I couldn't tell them that.

"No!" I shouted. "I was thinking more like a … how do I say this …?"

"A martial arts demonstration?"

Another chorus of laughter. I could feel my face heating up.

"No! A performance! We could mix music and dancing and martial arts to create some sort of show."

Finally silence. That shut everyone up.

"And," Kaoru-san said slowly. "How would that work?"

"…. Well... I hadn't … thought that far yet. But …"

"It would be like a movie."

Henrika was standing. She looked at me briefly before turning back to the front.

"We'll find or write a show with music. We'll come up with dances based on the martial arts. Something fast for action scenes and tai-chi for the drama scenes. We'll all act and do magic for the effects. We'll put on three shows every day of the festival and sell tickets. Half the tickets sales will go to the student council and half we'll keep for ourselves to throw a party for our class!"

"Yea!"

"Let's do that!"

"Great thinking, Henrika-chan!"

"It was Ama-san and Henrika-chan."

"Figures those two would come up with something like that."

I had already sat down while Henrika was talking, but I was beaming. Despite all the girl's doubts, sometimes she was possessed by this creative energy that turned everything she touched to gold.

After a few smiles and humble bows Henrika sat down. I nodded to her with a grin. Tetsu leaned forward at the same time.

"Way to tag-team them, guys," he whispered and gave us both a nod.

I smiled back at him even after Henrika turned away. Sometimes, Tetsu could be really sweet. I guessed that was why we were friends in the first place. He never withheld credit where credit was due.

"Okay, okay," Takahata-sensei cut in. "I supposed since your all so excited then it's settled?"

It was, in fact, settled and the rest of homeroom and the half day of school went by without any farther excitement. When the bell finally rang for dismissal, I was the first one out the door.

Since school was over I figured I might as well get some training in. Tai-chi and some non-attack magic were both on my to-do list. I wanted to make sure I was ready for the auditions when it came time to cast the roles for our class's performance. I could rest on Sunday.

Before I'd gotten too far, Tetsu caught up with me.

"Hey, Ama," he said with smile. "How about a one-two punch for the auditions?"

"One-two punch?" I asked.

"Yea. Since Henrika is such a girly-girl she'll pick an epic romance story for the play for sure." He smirked as he narrowed his eyes as me. "And since she's your friend, she's sure to cast fighting male AND female leads. A warrior princess teams up with rogue demon and they take down the bad-guys and in the process fall in love. You know something like that."

I thought about that for a moment. Knowing Henrika like I did, I know that was exactly the sort of thing she'd come up with.

"Yea," I agreed. "That's probably going to be it."

"So let's go in together," Tetsu continued. "We'll show what the kids of heroes can do!"

I snorted at that. "I'm the daughter of heroes."

"Yea, but I'm the son of one of their best student. Don't forget my Okaasan's on Mars right now duking it out with rebels and riffraff."

He had a point so I let that go. However, he was being too nice for my comfort.

"So what do you get out of this?" I asked.

"What?"

"Why are you being so nice? Don't you have bells to ring in my face or something?"

Tetsu looked at me without speaking then began to walk away. He had got a few feet away before he stopped.

"That was my fault," he muttered as he half turned to me. "Next time I'll wake you up even earlier!" He turned and stuck his tongue out at me before whirling around and running off. "See you on the training field, Chichaku-san!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs and stomped my foot. "I am not Chichaku-san!"

I hated that jerk sometimes. He was such an ass!

"Amaterasu-san?"

I whirled around to find Henrika and Kaoru-san coming down the stairs behind me. Judging from the sweetness of the voice who'd called me, Kaoru-san had spoken.

The girl came down the stairs like she was floating making even the light-footed Henrika seem heavy. She was like a pretty little wisp.

"Kaoru-san! Hey! Sorry about the yelling."

Yelling in Kaoru-san's presence always seemed like cursing in front of my parents. I tried not to do it.

"Never mind that," she said with a wave of her hand. "I suppose you and Tetsu will be training to audition for the leads and show everyone else up?"

I blushed. She really seemed disappointed in me. I couldn't believe it. Was I that much of a show-off?

"Well no. I just … like to do my best. I won't be doing anything with that jerk Tetsu! He woke me up with bells this morning!"

"Oh?" she said as she stopped before me. "What a kind thing to do."

"Kind?! Kaoru-san, he nearly scared me half to death! I jumped almost out of my skin! Tell him, Henri-chan!"

"Well," Henrika said with a smile. "She was upset this morning when she came in."

Kaoru-san smiled. "Yes, but she did get in this morning. And as I recall, he broke water fountain on his way in too. He and Takahata-sensei were out of the room when you came in because of that. Takahata-sensei didn't even take attendance until after we had the talk about the class project. Lucky for you, too. Otherwise you would have been marked as late."

I stopped and thought. Come to think of it, I didn't remember Tetsu showing up until he made that stupid comment and that was just before Takahata-sensei showed up.

"You see, Amaterasu-san," Kaoru-san continued as she began to step away. "Maybe Tetsu was just trying to be kind, in his own way. I think he has a hard time showing that he cares. He hides behind little tricks. So typical of a boy." She looked at me with those pale blue eyes and sweet angel-smile. "Girls are easier to understand. They're more straight-forward."

I sighed and nodded. "Boys are complicated."

Kaoru-san giggled as she shook her head. "True, Amaterasu-san." After that she turned to Henrika. "So should we go?"

"Yep," the brunette chirped.

"Where are you guys going?" I asked.

"Were having dinner with Asuna-san and my Okaasama," Kaoru-san answered.

"Oh. Well, have a good time guys."

"And have a good time training, Ama-chan," Henrika said with a smile.

"Good-bye, Amaterasu-san," Kaoru-san added as he began to leave.

"Hey," I cut in as she turned. "Could you call me, Ama? No one but you calls me by my full name. Not even my parents."

Kaoru-san turned to me with a little smile. "I'll stop calling you it, when you drop the "san" from my name," she explained. Then with a nod she turned and walked off with Henrika giggling beside her.

Those two were always sort of weird when they were around one another.

Deciding not the think too hard on things I couldn't understand, I just turned and started towards the training field. On the way there, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and something for Tetsu. He might have been a jerk, but if he had woken me up to get me to class, I owed him and I always paid back my debts.

When I got to the training field, I was less than surprised to see Kaasan teaching I class there. He waved me over when he saw me.

I didn't know how long he'd been out there, but he was sweaty and dirty already. His black hair was all messed up, even more so than usual, and, as usual, he sported sweat-pants and a tank. Since he taught so often, he almost never wore anything else.

I thing I liked most about Kaasan was he always looked happy to see me no matter how short a time we'd been apart. His ears wiggled in this way that just told me he loved me more than anything. I couldn't help it. I was a Daddy's Girl to both my parents.

"Hi Kaasan!"

That immediately got him frowning.

"Ama-chan!"

"Kaasan. What?"

I grinned innocently, and he must have been in a good mood because he let it go.

"Did you have a good day?" he asked.

"Yep!" I chirped. "I had a little trouble with Tetsu this morning …"

"That boy? Again? What is his problem? You'd think he'd be nicer to girls!"

"Kaasan!" I shouted. "Don't say that about me, like I'm some delicate flower! I'm a **_WARRIOR_**!" I howled at him and barred my fangs.

Kaasan laughed as he put up his hands.

"I know, I know. My little hunter."

I smiled before walking off.

"Yup. I _am_ a hunter. I'm going to go hunt down Tetsu right now and train."

"Okay, pup. Don't let him beat you."

"I won't!"

After crossing the field, waving to a few people as I went, I ended up at the very back where serious students like to spend extra time away from distractions. Tetsu was stretching when I got there.

"Took you long enough," he muttered as I approached.

"Got you a snack," I answered as I threw him a paper bag. "I ate mine already."

As he opened the bag, I yanked my training clothes out of the bottom of my school bag. "Next time you want to do me a favor," I told him as a pulled off my school uniform, "don't do it with bells." I stuffed the uniform in place of the training clothes before beginning to dress. "There are easier and nicer ways to be nice."

"Uh-huh," he muttered.

I turned to him and found him eating his sweet-bean-filled bun on the ground while staring at a cloud. With a frown I went over to stand behind him and leaned over his shoulder.

"What's with the cloud-watching?" I asked as he leaned to get almost eye level with him.

He didn't look at me. He just shook his head.

"Weirdo," I muttered before putting on my shirt.

He finished his bun in another two bites and we began to stretch together.

"Hey, Ama," he muttered as he watched me bend backwards.

"Yea?"

"Sometime soon you might want to …"

"Want to what?"

"… Start wearing a … bra."

I looked at him and he stared back at me.

"You know," he continued. "Eventually your boobs are gonna get bigger and they'll … get in the way … when you train."

I flipped up-right and pulled my shirt forward. "You think? They're pretty small now. They still stand up on their own, they're so light."

"Y-yea. But they won't always. You might need to wear one. So you should get used to it."

Tetsu didn't pause in his stretching. He always had a casual way of explaining things that other people might trip up on.

"You know Tetsu, you really can be a thoughtful guy!"

"Yea. ... Don't mention it."

I shot out my hand for him to take. He eyed it for a moment before standing and taking it. When he'd taken hold of me I pulled him into a nice tight hug. Sometimes Tetsu really did remind me why we were friends.

Even if he didn't hug me back very tightly.

* * *

KL: Okay. So I know Author Commentary can be pretty uselss but MY GOD. Ama is even more clueless than even I know what to do with! WTF! _


	3. The Tournament

Makou-no-ko

The Daughter of Dog-Mage

The Tournament

The performance was masterful. We had to create extra seats because we ended up over-selling tickets! The student council wanted to make the play an annual part of the school Summer Festival, and we had money for a great class party. It was a complete success.

Henrika ended up writing the play while the class gathered together for the music and dance steps. Tetsu and I trained for two straight weeks and got the leading roles.

Of course that meant I had to kiss him three times a day for five days but that was hardly worth mentioning. All I did was close my eyes, wait for his lips to touch mine and count to ten in my head. Then it was over.

Anyway the whole thing was amazing. I was so happy I had thought of it. Well, I had thought of it to avoid being laughed at, but never mind that! It was still wonderful!

However, I was glad when it was over. First of all, I would get to stop kissing Tetsu (who thankfully didn't make fun of me once the whole time), and second, I could now cram in some last minute training for the tournament.

The Mahora Academy Martial Arts Tournament was the second to last day of the Summer Festival, and I was going all the way to the finals.

My Tad had gone to the finals when he was younger than I was. I knew I could do at least that. I had been training practically since I could walk for this day. This was going to be my moment!

"Do your best, Ama-chan," Tad told me as I left the house.

Tad had some work to do so he was going to be late for the festival that day. He was busy with balancing the magical and non-magical worlds, so much so that he hadn't even taken a teaching position that year.

"I will Tad. I'm going all the way to the finals!"

He smiled at me from behind his circle glasses. "Of course you are."

"But if you don't," Kaasan cut in with a worried look, "it's okay."

I stared at Kaasan with a shocked expression. "Of course I'm going to the finals. Tad was in the finals when he was younger than me!"

"Yes," Kaasan said as he approached. "But winning is as much a result of your opponent's strength as your own. Even if you're strong, you can't guarantee you're the strongest."

I stared at him and shook my head with a smile. "I will get to the finals," I announced. "Watch me, Kaasan. I'll do it for you." I leaned up and hugged him before heading for the door.

Once outside, I stopped and took a deep breath. This was it. This was why I worked and trained. It was the first step in the journey that would become the rest of my life.

I was dressed in the same sort of the clothes that Tad dressed in when he went to the finals. I wanted there to be a connection between us when I came close to winning or actually won. And besides I trained in similar style as him and so the outfit was practical.

Heading towards the arena where the tournament was taking place, I wove through the festival that was well underway. There was dancing and singing, performances and so much food that I could eat my way into a coma.

However, I wasn't going to ruin my system by eating any junk food. During the last month, I had been extra careful about what I put in my body, so I'd be in absolute prime condition for my fights. Both Tetsu and I decided we'd control our appetites for the tournament.

As I began to get close to the arena, I could see a bunch of people milling around in sneakers, boots and ninja outfits. I was entering the waiting area just outside the arena with its own stock of vendors and flags. I shook my head at the amateurs trying to look cool. Those people would make it past two fights if they were lucky.

For instance, there was one girl who was jumping rope to get her heart rate up. She was about my size, but skinner with the longest blonde ponytail I'd ever seen. The rope threatened to catch on her hair with its every turn. Skipping rope like that and looking around with this wide eyed smile on her face, she looked like a kid that had wandered into a dojo by accident. I hoped whoever took her out did it gently.

However, they were some serious looking contenders too. This one guy was the size of my Uncle Raikan. Uncle Raikan had showed up out of the blue when I was five and trained my Tad for a while. He was huge, but honestly a big softy, especially to me. The guy was throwing swords in the air and catching them – sometimes with his teeth. He had all the size of my uncle, but none of his sweetness. He looked like he would break someone for fun.

It turned my stomach to look at him, but I also knew that if I could take him down, finals or not I would secure my fame for this tournament. I hoped I got him near the end.

I was so busy looking at my ticket to fame and glory, I bumped right into Tetsu.

"Watch it," he muttered under his breath, but he was too busy eying a girl a year or two older than us chucking throwing stars at air-born targets to look at me.

"I thought you weren't interested in women's bodies," I told him with a nudge.

He threw me a glance, but before he could speak, a gasp went on through the crowd. We both turned in time to see eight targets fall out of the sky all skewered with throwing needles. My gulped was matched by Tetsu's.

"She's a monster with those things," he muttered.

I glanced at him.

"You're okay," I muttered so no one, but him could hear. "There's so many of us that you probably won't go up against her. Besides, she probably won't be allowed to bring those things in the ring. Not with students from the school in it."

Tetsu was good at hand to hand combat and could win at almost any type of close-quarters combat he got thrown in. I knew that from training with him my whole life. However, long distance weapons weren't his thing. He always had a disadvantage if they came into play.

"Maybe," he quipped softly. "But she's a student too."

"What?!"

Tetsu turned and away and began to walk. I followed, trailing at his elbow. "She's in the high school."

We walked towards the gate where we'd all go into the arena and get our numbers and have pictures taken for the leaderboard as he looked around.

"Ama," Tetsu murmured as he got close. "Do you think that we're in over our heads?"

"What?"

"I mean it. Things aren't like when this got started. Most of the people here are way older than us. Even though students from middle school up can enter, most of the students are all from the high school. Even the middle school entrees are third-years. What chance do two first-years have against these people?"

He glanced around and gave a cold look to a boy from the high school who was sizing us up from across the space behind a vending cart.

I glared too before speaking, "We're just as tough as them. We've trained our whole lives."

"Yea," Tetsu said with a shake of his head. "But so have they. Like I said, this isn't like when it got started, when your father almost won. The tournament's become a staple of the Academy. Demons and magical students attend Mahora Academy now. They all use magic and train every day. A lot of these people have probably trained their whole lives for this too. Winners and finalists usually end up in Ala Alba and go all over protecting people, meeting leaders, and being big-shots. How many of those people have we met when your parents had them over?"

It was true. Winners and finalists of the Mahora Academy Martial and Magical Arts Tournament had been popping up at my house as brand new members of Ala Alba ever since I could remember. In fact, that might have been why I was so determined to get into the finals and was so convinced that doing so was the first step towards the rest of my life. I'd grown up with past winners, sparkling in their white and silver Ala Alba uniforms, being congratulated my parents. They were all so proud to be personally invited into Ala Alba by the leaders and founding members of the world-renowned group. And Tad and Kaasan had always looked so proud of them. I'd always wanted to be part of that, to be one of the heroes.

"Look, I don't care," I whispered. "I know what we're up against, but we've grown up around this. It's in our blood. We're different than these people. They are just admirers."

"Are we?" Tetsu asked with a worried and skeptical look.

"We are!" I asserted and happened to see the rope-skipping girl skip pass us. I smiled. "I besides, even if we aren't, we aren't the most unprepared ones here." I pointed to the school-girl with the rope and giggled.

Tetsu shook his raven hair at me, the way he did when he was being playful, then gave me this crooked smile.

"I guess so."

The line into the actual area reminded me of the school procession into the theater for assembles and the like. We all filed in with this impossibly slow pace, trying not to bump into one another and craning our heads to get a look at everyone around us.

However, there were two crucial differences that had to be noted. First, we weren't trying not to touch out of respect for one another. We were all too tense to brush up against one another. Second, we weren't looking around for friends or people we knew. Each of us were sizing up those around us, deciding who wanted to fight, who we didn't' want to fight, who we thought we could take and who we honestly hoped got taken out by someone else.

Needless to say, tensions were high, but were broken by the sound of the cheering crowd, the expectant faces of all who looked on and were involved. Even the sun beating down on our heads and shoulders eased the anxiety.

Large screens mounted around the arena's uppermost level projected larger-than-life versions of us as we walked onto the area floor. The crowd cheered and shouted and most (almost all) of the contestants waved and smiled. They flexed, posed and generally put on a face for the cameras. Being in the tournament was about the fame anyway.

I didn't wave too much though. I smiled a bit, but I was too busy getting a good look at the arena. The only people that I wanted to see me wouldn't care if I smiled and waved.

The arena was a gigantic oval made up of layers. The top layer had lights and huge TV screens that projected the floor of the arena for the audience. The second layer down had all the VIP seats and technicians for the arena. The level below that was the largest, having several rings of sitting, standing and walking room for the audience with lines of vendors lining the top. Below the audience, nearly floor level with the bottom of the arena was line of judges' seats. The judges sat in pairs, equal distance, one from the next, going all the way around the outer ring of the floor.

The last level was the arena floor itself, some of which was empty space. We all stood in this arena as everything got settled. As we waited for our turn in the ring, we'd all be inside the arena. The contestants didn't watch the fights to keep them fair.

Honestly, that was probably smart. The first thing my Tad and Kaasan had told me about fighting was "watch first attack second". I could pin point an opponent's weakness after three minutes' worth of attacks. I guessed that many fighters were like that, which was why we were kept inside.

I eyed the ring, giving it the once over. From the angle I had, I figured it was about seventy feet across. I tried to the math in my head: a circle with a seventy-foot diameter gave me how much room to move?

I was good at schoolwork, but only when it came to memorizing certain things. Languages, stories, connections, I could remember those things. Math was like … well math. It was something I couldn't get.

Besides, the ring seemed to match with the arena floor itself, which I knew from the curve of the stands and ceiling, was an oval.

"Oval," I muttered.

That seemed important. I had assumed the ring would be round but slightly different shape gave it slightly different properties when it came to movement. I'd have inches or even feet less in certain places and inches or feet more in others before I hit the barrier.

"What about an oval?" Tetsu asked in a whisper.

I looked at him and pressed my lips together but tilted my head ever so slightly towards the ring. He would get it.

After a few minutes of us standing around basically posing for the camera, the announcers began to have us form lines. Tetsu stood just ahead of me in our line and we walked slowly forward a series of tables in front of the ring.

At the table, I put my hand on a scanner and wrote down my name. My picture flashed on the small screen at the table and on one of the large screens atop the arena, along with my name. The woman at the table smiled and nodded at me, sending me off.

I moved to my left before turning around to walk back inside the arena's waiting area. With everyone in neat lines, I could take a look at anyone in the lines directly to my left and right. Jump rope girl winked at me as I passed her. The girl with the knives looked me up and down. My chance at glory, the huge man with the swords, was in a line on the other side of the ring.

I passed through the huge archway that lead back into the waiting area and found a seat next to Tetsu. We didn't speak to one another.

Within minutes the rest of the contestants were inside. There was a brief moment where we were all shut in, waiting in silence for something to happen. Then, a voice spilled out of the speakers. "Match one: Contestant 25 and Contestant 13. Will Contestant 25 and Contestant 13 please make their way to the arena?"

I glanced at Tetsu. He looked around, probably searching for whoever would get up. Sure enough we spotted the two fighters making their way through the crowd. One of them I hadn't seen before this point, but that was natural. There were 64 of us after all. The other I'd seen. It was the rope girl.

I nudged Tetsu and shook my head. "Of all the people to go out first," I whispered.

He only shrugged, leaned back and closed his eyes. I figured I should do the same thing. Taking a deep breath and decided to meditate.

It felt like I had only just slowed my breathing when a bell went off. The match was over.

I didn't bother to look towards the door. There was no way that rope girl had made it.

"That was fast," Tetsu muttered. "It hasn't been that long."

"Well did you expect?" I told him.

"No that," he answered and nodded towards the door. Walking through backwards, blowing kisses to the crowd was Jump-Rope Girl.

"What the hell?" I asked under my breath.

The crowd was screaming as she walked in. She seemed perfectly fine, not a scratch on her. She twirled around and headed back for her seat as the next pair was called.

For the next few matches, I stared the girl with the rope. How had she won? What was her secret? Had her opponent been even less prepared than her? I kept trying to figure it out. I was so engrossed, Tetsu and to nudge me back into reality.

"It's you," he whispered.

"Contestant 27 and Contestant 52, please make your ways to the arena."

Contestant 27. That was me.

I stood and walked towards the door without looking at Testsu. I could feel his eyes on my back though. I smiled to myself. In a moment, I'd be one step closer to my destiny.

The sunlight in the area was a bit overwhelming after time inside the waiting room. It took me moment to get my bearings in the loud bright open-air area. I walked forward with a sort of blind giddiness. This was it. This was my moment. I glanced at the screens only briefly to see myself. Most of my attention was focused on the stands. I wanted to know where my parents were. It wasn't just a want to know they were watching me. I wanted to be able to figure out where I was in the ring quickly in case things got complicated.

I was so busy eyeing the ring, the stands and everything else I thought would help me I didn't see my opponent until I turned to figure out why the crowd was whispering.

There he was. My opponent. The big guy from the line.

I cursed in my head. This was not right! This wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to be my big finish, my ticket into my legendary status. He wasn't supposed to fight my first time out.

The man looked down at me with a frown. Up close he was even bigger than I thought before. Easily twice my size in all measurements, I knew I would have to put quite a bit of magic and ki behind each of my attacks just to match his physical strength. As I looked at him, I tried to guess at the likelihood of him fighting magic-less.

Everything about him screamed brute strength.

He looked at me with a wide flat frowning face. I could hear the crowd in the stands, but little by little the sound became washed out white noise.

I sized up the man really well for the first time. He was easily twice my size in all measurements. With huge straining limbs and a hairless body he looked like one big coils muscle ready to strike. The sight of him would have been intimidating if I hadn't wanted to fight and win against him in the first place.

The brute caught my eye with a movement and smiled. It was a too narrow and too wide and very ugly expression. The thought he was in for an easy victory. I was going to prove him wrong.

We started towards the ring and I watched him as he walked. He really was all muscle, bulky with short blocky steps. Though we were both walking slowly, I could see swiftness wasn't his area. Even the swing of his arms was slow and small.

In short, he was big and undoubtedly strong, but also slow with a limited range of movement. Quick long range attacks would be best against him, I decided. It would keep me out of his reach until I could wear him down, moving all that mass had to be tiring. All I had to do was bide my time and wear him down.

As I stepped into the ring, I thought to myself that the only way I wouldn't have this completely under control within minutes was if he was going to use magic to increase his speed. I figured that was unlikely, seeing as he was made of muscle.

In the ring, the announcer introduced us to the crowd. My opponent went first. His name was Heracles; or at least that was the name he signed up under. I was pretty sure it was a pseudonym. It was too fitting. He was twenty-six-years-old and his father had been a student in the academy.

In the roar of clapping and applause, a small string of jeering struggled to the surface. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. I knew what it was over.

The perky announcer skipped up to my opponent and held the mic up to his face.

"Anything to say?" she asked him.

To no one's surprise – or at least it didn't surprise me – he said nothing. Muscleman just nodded once, never taking his eyes off me. It took the woman a few embarrassing seconds to realize he wasn't going to speak before she moved on.

Next it was my turn. The woman said my name, and I could hear the members of 1C cheering above the rest of the crowd. No matter what they might say in the classroom I was representing our homeroom and they were proud of me. Tetsu would get the same welcome into the ring.

However, just as audible, underneath the cheering I could hear the complaints. They announced my age after my name and there could be no doubt in how some of the crowd felt about me fighting someone twice my age.

I ignored them. This was my moment. No one was going to take it from me.

After my age, my parents were announced. This time there was no dissent or disagreement. The crowd went wild, shouting and whistling. I didn't look but I knew the camera had zoomed in on my Tad and Kaasan somewhere up in the stands. In the ring, the upbeat announcer reminded everyone that finalist and winners of the tournament often went on to grand careers in Ala Alba.

As if any of the contestants needed to be reminded.

When the cheering died down a little, the announcer skipped up to me and shove her mic in my face.

"Anything to say, Amaterasu?" she asked.

I tilted my head up, but kept my eyes on Muscleman. We were locked in a staring contest.

"It's Ama," I said.

The announcer made chipper sound and corrected herself before asking me again if I had anything to say. I shook my head without looking at her. She laughed somewhat nervously before telling the crowd that they had two serious contenders in the ring

After that it wasn't long before it started.

The bell rang. I crouched, preparing to move back if necessary. Muscleman and I were standing far enough apart that I didn't think I would have to move from the original spot for some time. That was could conserve energy.

I was wrong about that.

Before I had dropped all the way, he was in my face. I hardly had time to move before his fist flew at me. It only gazed me, but sent me flying towards the edge of the ring. The world was rushing around me. It was hard to tell which way was up.

I extended my limbs. Thankfully, my foot touched something solid, and I forced my weight down in that direction. With the stone ring floor to brace myself against, I slid to a stop.

As I tried to refocus, I became aware that I was wobbling back and forth. I quick glance up at the screen showed me I was at the edge of the ring, about to fall off. I dropped my gaze back into the arena just in time to see Muscleman rushing at me.

Tensing, I waited the few seconds it took him to traverse the distance between us and jumped. Placing my hands on his shoulders, I vaulted over him, hoping he'd tumble out of the ring on his own. I barely got my hands off his head when something grabbed my ankle.

Feeling the air rush out of my lungs, I was pulled backwards. I had seconds to change my direction or I'd land outside the ring. With a few quick kicks of my free leg, I blinded Muscleman and as he went to shield his face, I escaped and bonded away.

As I slid to a stop back near the center of the ring, I wondered how he was moving so fast. When I turned to face him that thought got knocked out of my head as the wind was knocked out of me.

He'd caught up to me already. His huge fist landed a solid blow to my stomach, and I doubled over. I could feel the shift in the air as his hand came up over me. With blind instinct, I forced myself to drop and roll so that his hand connected to the ring floor where I used to be.

However, before I could put distance between us, he was over me again. Falling into the sort of blind lashing rage, I moved forward rather than back, slashing with my claws.

The man matched my movements, blocking every one of my attacks. I dropped back and when I hit the ground, lunged forward again from a new angle. The man batted me away as if I were nothing more than a bug. But I was in the zone. His punched felt like pebbles. I must have been bruising under the onslaught, but I never felt it.

Sooner or later, he began to slow. He started missing me. His hands didn't come up fast enough to block me. I was driving him back. Feeling my muscles burn with effort and knowing I had begun to wear him down, I dropped back again. This time I put some distance between us.

From a few yards away, I could see him panting. He didn't come after me. His movements were much slower. I dared to grin.

Taking a breath, I charged up. There was nothing I could do about my injuries, but I wasn't worried about them. Now I that had some distance I could wear him down as planned.

With the precision, Tad instilled in me I shot a multiple round blast straight at Muscleman. Every one hit its mark. He fell under the sheer weight of the attack. I let up for a moment. I needed to see how he'd faired under that onslaught and adjust my power as needed.

Smoke wafted from the target sight. For a moment, I couldn't see him but I could hear him. He was shuffling around in there. Widening my stance, I prepared to dig in for the next round. But before I could, he came rushing out the smoke straight towards me.

Shock washed over me. So much so that I nearly moved to late. Knowing he was trying to knock me off the edge again, I dove to the right to avoid him. With speed that formed a lump in my throat, he followed me.

Running would do me no good. I turned to face him. He was on top of me. His fist was coming towards me so fast I could barely move in time. Even with all my speed, it grazed me and I dropped into the hard arena floor.

Acting on instinct, I rolled to my left. Luck must have been on my side because his fist came crashing down just to my right.

I didn't get far, as the man grabbed my ankle and swung me up. I could see where this was going so I curled myself into a ball and latched into his large hand with me claws and fangs. He growled and swung me down, but curled into a ball like I was, it didn't hurt much. I dug into the man's flesh and when I felt his grip loosen I yanked my ankle free.

Switching back to close range combat, I continued to claw at him, mixing in punches where I could. He batted at me but within minutes his movements slowed. I darted away when I could and slid to a stop across the area.

Muscleman was panting, struggling to stand. I watched him, looking for signs of him recharging and gaining his speed back. For a minute or two, we prowled around each other without attacking.

His movements were blocky and slow. There was no way he could get the speeds he used to catch me before. Something was happening. Something I hadn't planned for. Hopefully, this back-and-forth dance was coming to an end.

Gritting my teeth, I send another shot of air and lighting his way. It hit him and pushed him back but disappeared shortly after touching him. As he looked up from the blow I saw him smile. Then he was inches away from me again.

I screamed, and a pack of shadow dogs rose up around me to take the blow he sent straight for my face. Dropping back and scrambling away, I expected him to be right on my heels. But the man was preoccupied with getting out the grip of the dogs.

Then it clicked. I rushed forward again, gathering demon energy in my hand and pounced. He flung up his hands in defense, but I dodged his fist and make contact with the side of his head. Without stopping, I hit the floor behind him and made as sharp a turn as I could. He hadn't turned all the way around when I hit him again.

Bouncing from his left to his right, I set up a pattern of attacking for one side then stepping back to attack from the other. I wasn't as fast without using magic, but my demon strength still gave me a speed advantage over the large but stocky human.

Slowly, I began to back him towards the edge of the ring. It was a matter of patience and not letting up. Right side, left side. Left side, right side. He was going back, sliding towards drop off point. He batted away some of my attacks, but just couldn't keep up with them all the way. A few times he grabbed for me with a bone-crushing grip, but I was fortunately faster, flitting, teasingly, out of his reach.

With a few final shoves, he faltered. In the last second, he seemed to flail and leaned forward to stop himself. I sent a dog at his ankle and landed one well angled kick to his forehead and, out the ring he tumbled. He hit the ground with a very finite thump.

The bell rang. The crowd cheered. I was sweaty and panting. Somewhere along the line my demonic features had become more prominent. I could feel that my arms were longer, accommodating walking on all fours. My shoes were too tight as were my clothes. It felt strange but somehow good. Calming.

I stared down at the man who was struggling to his feet. He was cut all over. His clothing was in shreds.

"Nice, match Wölfchen," he said before limping away.

I watched him walk away and frowned. "Wolf-chan?"

Shaking my head and hopped down off the ring, I headed back towards the waiting room. Muscleman was going to the stands. Only winners returned to wait with the others.

The crowd was waving and shouting at me. I smiled but did little else. I was tired and I had only fought one match.

But then again, it had been again Muscleman.

Entering back to the waiting area I saw a few of the contestant raise eyebrows at me. I gave them a little smile as I made my way back to where I'd been waiting with Tetsu.

"You made it," he said uncaringly.

I scoffed. "Yea. I made it."

The jerk scooted over as I sat down. It was a relief to be sitting. I was sore from the beating I took and my body changing under the influence of my demon energy.

"You look nice."

I looked over at Tetsu. He was staring at me. I guessed he'd never seen my truly demonic attributes before.

"Are you scared of the demon?" I asked in a menacing voice.

Tetsu never moved a muscle. "Nope," was all he said.

"Oh." I looked away but then thought of something else and spoke again. "You are interested in my body, aren't you?"

I expected him to hiss at me to shut up or blush or something. Instead he just looked out into the crowd of other fighters.

"Yea," he said after a paused. "I am actually. I like you."

I snorted. "That is not a funny joke."

He didn't respond to that. The jerk.

We sat in silence for a long time after that. As first I considered the possibility the Te-kun was mad at me for finding his jab so humorless. But then I thought that was probably not the case. I had just come from my first fight. And with Muscleman no less. I obviously hadn't been at the top of my humor game. Even Tetsu wouldn't be so selfish as to be mad at me for that.

So I began to consider the possibility that he was frightened. Te-kun had been nervous when we came in. Maybe I hadn't done enough to calm his nerves. Of course it was possible that all this sitting around and waiting was tensing him up.

No matter which way I looked at it, I had failed in my friendship responsibility. I had to do something.

With a little smiled, I leaned over and blew in my friend's ear. He tensed and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. Though Tetsu could be a pretty serious guy anyway, he was far too serious now for it to be normal. I smiled and tried to look cheesy.

"Hey," I said in a whisper. "How you holding up?"

Tetsu stared at me for a long time without speaking. It was a moment that seemed to go on forever. I felt like I was holding my breath, waiting for a bomb to drop.

"I don't know if I can do this," he whispered to me. "I know that you said we're different, but are we really? Are we that different from any of the people here? Are we really more suited? It's one thing to say so in the classroom or on the training field, but it's another to think like that here."

I stared at him. Normally I would have been able to shake off such thoughts easily; Kaasan called it "blind self-confidence". But in truth I was just as tense. I knew my own conviction had wavered ever so slightly while I was out there on the ring. Muscleman had gotten under my skin for a moment when my plan blew up in my face and I was left running. For a few precious seconds all my training had been worthless. In those few moments there was a hidden split second of fear. So I knew what Tetsu was feeling.

But I had come through. In the end everything had clicked. Call it luck or skill, a spark had lit my way to victory, just like it always did for Tad, the way it was in a real battle. I believed in that spark and Tetsu had to believe too.

"We are," I said. "Fortune favors the bold. Kaasan says that all the time. We are different, born of heroes and … warriors that stepped in when no one else could. It's in our blood."

I looked at him. Tetsu stared at me and I could see I hadn't really affected him. But I didn't worry. I knew what he was like. I knew how to reach him.

"Te-kun. We're already there. You said it yourself. Most of the people here are much older that us. Even if we make it just one round against just one opponent that no one thought we could beat, we're already ahead of the curve, already doing what they said we couldn't."

Right then something changed in Tetsu's eyes. He looked at me and suddenly he was all steadiness. The cool confidence he normally displayed was back. I nudged him.

"Be chill," I said in English. Te-kun smirked at me.

"Be chill," he responded.

Normally we would have bumped our fists together at this point but something interrupted us. The bell overhead signaled latest match was over and the victor would be walking in. We both craned our necks. The entire room grew quiet so that the sound of the crowd outside was overpowering even in the buncher-like room. The victor entered and a murmur rippled through the contestants.

Tetsu and I looked at one another and shrugged. We had both guessed the outcome of that battle when the fighters we out There had been upsets in the ring so far; I had been one of them. And there would be more to come but this wasn't one of them. After a momentary glance out, we both shifted our attention back to one another.

Since we were between fights, we tried to update our knowledge of the proceedings. We guessed which fighters would be called out next and placed little private bets on the winners of certain match-ups. He had just launched into a little joke up the jump-rope girl when the bell sounded once more and two numbers were called.

"Contestant 26 and Contestant 32. Will Contestant 26 and Contestant 32 please make their way to the arena?."

Twenty-six was Tetsu's number.

I looked over at him, afraid he would be jittery all over again but he surprised me. Not only was he still calm. He was smiling.

He nudged me briefly before getting up and heading for the door. I watched his back as he left.

When I was little, my Tad taught me an old song that he used to sing when he was first learning to speak Japanese. One of the lines went: "I shoot arrows of courage from a far-off window at your back as you leave." As I a watched Tetsu leave I imagined myself shooting those same arrows at his back. I hoped all my encouragement could reach him. I was so focused on this, that his opponent's silhouette caught me by surprise.

It was a girl older than us. She wore all black, a dress shirt shirt tucked into form-fitting jeans with several large pockets. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. When she turned to nod at Tetsu at the door, I could see her face. Number thirty-two was the knife-girl.

I tensed so badly that I almost got up. Every fiber of me wanted to rush out onto the floor and watch my friend as he faced that she-devil with throwing needles. But of course I couldn't. I wouldn't be allowed to watch the match no matter what the reason.

However the room was too small. I felt like I was suffocating. With as much ease as I could I got up and walked to the back where the doors out of the arena were. The workers there stopped me, but I got pass them by saying I'd stay in their sight the whole time I was out. I needed some fresh air.

Outside the arena the sky was very blue. I could hear the crowds watching the match the faintly over the sounds of the rest of the festival. I tilted my head up. I wished that somehow I could see Te-kun. At that moment I couldn't believe our luck. I ended up with Muscleman my first time out while he got the knife-girl. What sort of fate was that?

I took several deep breaths trying to calm myself. I had to believe in Te-kun. Worrying wouldn't help me. Just as I was telling myself that someone called my name.

"Amaterasu!"

I opened my eyes and looked over. Coming towards the arena's back door with a basket swinging on the crook of her arm was Kaoru-san. She was dressed in a light colored summer dress and sandals. She looked rather stunning with her pale blonde hair floating around her.

"Hello, Amaterasu," she greeted me as she came nearer.

"Hey Kaoru-san," I said back. "What brings you here? Shouldn't you be up in the stands?"

"Tetsu is fighting Atashi Megumi," she explained. "Megumi-senpai is an expert in knife and needle throwing. I can't say more that," she said as he smiled at the arena workers, who I guessed doubled as tournament officials, "but I knew you'd be nervous for him so I came down."

"So you're here instead of cheering him on?!" I asked. The very idea was shocking for me.

Kaoru-san just laughed. "I've trained with Megumi-senpai," she said. "I think he can take her. and anyway, he has plenty of people cheering him on but you're out here all alone. I thought you might need me more."

I stood there and smiled for a moment. She had really thought that much of me. I supposed my friendship with Tetsu was clearer to others than it was to me sometimes.

"Thanks, Kaoru-san," I muttered.

"No problem," she said. Then she turned to the arena workers watching us from the shadows of the door. "Can I give her this?" she called as she fished a bottle of water out of her basket. "It's just flavored water."

The workers muttered on one another for a moment before one of them came over. He held his hand out for the bottle and opened it when Kaoru-san handed it over. Without touching his mouth to the top he poured a little of the contents in his mouth. After swallowing it he nodded and handed the bottle to me.

"You're lucky to have someone looking out for like that," he said before retreating back to the door.

I looked at Kaoru-san and raised the open bottle to her. "Thanks, Class Rep," I said before taking a long drink of water. The water tasted slightly of fruit and was very cold and very good. It washed through me and made me feel refreshed even if it was just normal flavored water. I finished the whole bottle in a few gulps.

With a sigh he took the bottle away from my mouth and grinned. "That was fantastic."

"I'm glad," Kaoru-san said to me. She held her hand out for the bottle and placed it back in her basket when I gave it to her. "Here. Let's sit down." She walked a bit closer to the entrance of the arena and settled on a patch of grass near its base.

I followed and dropped to the ground next to her. The arena workers made a plain show of watching us through the door. I resisted the urge to glare at them. I figured that they should think I was better than to cheat. Or at least smarter than to do it right in front of them.

Kaoru-san set her basket aside and seemed to relax in a proper sitting position with her legs tucked under her. I didn't know how she did it. I hated sitting like that.

"Here," he said again as he patted her lap. "Rest your head on my lap."

I stared at her, highly confused. "What?"

"It will make you feel relaxed. Lay your head on my lap."

I furrowed my brows for a moment, but Class Rep had never let me down before so with shrug and shifted and made to lie on my back with my head in her lap. Lying that way, the sky was too bright and right in my face, so I closed my eyes. As I got comfortable I felt her hand in my hair. She began to pet my hair just behind one of my ears.

"I liked your wolf form," the blonde said to me.

Slowly a cracked open one eye and smiled. "Yea?" I responded.

I tried to think of myself as I looked to her in my more demonic form. I'd never seen it because I could only take it in short bursts spurred on passion. However I had an idea of what I looked like. I could feel the different length of my arms and the size of my teeth. I knew I was furry as well. I'd never noticed it before but I had stayed in that form so long after my fight with Muscleman that I'd finally gotten a better idea of the changes.

I had always thought of myself as large, heavy and honestly somewhat ugly compared to Kaoru-san and that was on a normal day. I couldn't imagine the different between us when I was in my wolf form.

"Was it … scary?" I asked.

To my surprise, she laughed. "No! Not at all. I found it thrilling. I knew you were going to win when I saw it." She tapped my nose with the tip of her finger. "Besides, it was obvious that your opponent could only absorb magic. He couldn't do anything with demonic energy but get hit with it. It was clever of you to switch," she said.

I nodded but didn't say anything. It had been an accident.

"It was also lucky you could do that. Imagine if you had been completely human. You would have been in a far worse predicament."

Closing both my eyes, I chose not to answer. She was right of course. Even if my counter-attack was accidental it only came about because I was partially demon. Staring down at the man as he sat outside the ring confirming my victory, I'd never been so happy to be a wolf. I'd never been ashamed it of course, but I'd never seen it as being particularly adventitious either, until that moment.

For some time we sat in silence. Kaoru-san pet my head and I listened to the distant roar of the crowd and imagined transferring any luck that I had to Tetsu to help him.

That knife-wielding girl was terror anyway but Tetsu was weak against long range fighters. It seemed like the worst possible match. I wondered what Kaoru-san knew that I didn't that made her so relaxed.

Shifting under the pressure of a new thought, I opened my eyes.

"You train with knives, Kaoru-san?"

The blonde had her eyes closed. She almost looked like she'd been sleeping, the way she suddenly looked down at me and had to take a moment to focus on me.

"Oh?" she muttered with a smile. I was going to repeat the question as I was sure she hadn't heard it but she continued on before I could. "Well yes. My mother sends to me train on the weekends and a little after school, should I want to pursue a more … let's say active life than she has."

I furrowed my brows and leaned up a little. "Active? You mean like … joining Ala Alba?"

As strange as it was for me to see, Kaoru-san blushed. "Well … I'm just keeping my options open. You never know what you might want for yourself in the future."

"Ah, I see."

I put my head back down and closed my eyes again. I couldn't imagine Class Rep on the training field, but my Tad told me to never judge too quickly. Maybe the girl had a whole other side to herself that I didn't know about.

For a while I was content to just sit there and relax. It was a nice break from everything. I thought to myself that I hoped Kaoru-san sat with me again, but all too soon I was being woken up by one of the arena officials. He muttered that the match was over and that I should head back.

The short nap gave my some of my strength back and hoped to feet easily.

"Okay then," I said. "Back into the fray." I looked over at Kaoru-san who was getting up and gave her a smile. "Thanks for everything," I said. She nodded and waved me towards the door without speaking.

I left Class Rep for the company of the arena officials as I made my way back to the waiting area.

"You know you're pretty lucky," one of them said to me. He was a big guy with a bald head and kind face. "You've got such a cute doting girlfriend at your age. I didn't get a girlfriend until I was in highschool!"

"That's because you're too ugly for girls to look at!" one of the others said to him with a jab.

I shook my head. "I don't think so, ojisan," I said. "I think you're alright. But Kaoru-san isn't my girlfriend. She's the Class Rep for my homeroom."

"Is that all?!" the bald man asked in disbelief. He was so clearly shocked for reason purely beyond my understanding.

"Yep. That's all. Well, see ya ojisan."

I took off at a fast walk back into the waiting area. The doors were already open. I could see a few people craning their heads to see the victor. Some of them were muttered to one another. I stepped through the groups lightly and headed back to the stop where Tetsu and I had been sitting. The door was on the opposite side of the room as the spot so I couldn't see if Te-kun was there or not. I tried not to look worried or excited as I approached but I stopped short when I finally got close enough to see.

"Te-kun!"

Tetsu was sitting back on the floor in his spot. He was cut fairly badly. His blue-black waves were caked with blood in one spot. But he'd wiped off his face and looked generally no worse for wear than he ever did after a fight.

He looked up at me with surprise. His mouth opened. Maybe he was going to greet me, but I never gave him the chance. I rushed the rest of the distance between us and collapsed up against him, throwing my arms around him in the process.

"Tetsu! You made it. It took you long enough, you jerk. I was worried about you. God you don't care about my feelings at all!"

The younger boy squirmed in my grasp. "Jeez Chichaku-chan," he grunted. "Get off. You're hurting me more than my opponent. There's no taking out the competition in here, you know."

"Stupid. Next time you make me worry like that, I'll beat you myself. Don't take so long to win next time!"

"Yea, whatever. Maybe your lateness is rubbing off on me Chichaku-chan."

"Shut up," I told him but lacked any real heat. I made myself comfortable next to my friend and waited for the next numbers to be called. I noticed a few people watching us. They were smiling and whispering. I didn't care. I loved my friend and that was that!

For a while, Tetsu and I just sat together. The bell overhead went off a few times and maybe Tetsu said something or other about it, but I wasn't really paying attention. I was pretty much curled up at his side, hanging onto his right arm. He made this stupid show of complaining that I was making his fingers go numb but I just told him to shut up and stopping being a baby.

At the time, I wasn't really concerned with anything going on around us. I been doing something thinking while resting with Kaoru-san. The way I had it figured, there was no use trying to count the cards or figure out the odds, especially when we were called out at random. It was better to conserve energy and focus on keeping my ready than be worried about the goings on around me.

During this whole time, there were a few fighters that almost never looked up or around them. I had figured they were over-confident before, now I saw they were just better prepared than me. It didn't matter. I'd caught up.

I actually almost fell asleep waiting for my number to be called again. When it was, Tetsu nudged me with his shoulder.

"Get out," he whispered harshly. "It's time to go."

I sat up straighter and looked around me. I felt like I had just woken up from a rather deep sleep. My muscles were sore anymore. I stretched a little, to warm myself up then jumped to my feet.

"Good luck, Chichaku-chan," I heard Tetsu muttered under his breath.

I turned back towards him in the middle of a stretch and flashed him a smile. Then I headed towards the door.

As I moved through the crowd of contestants I couldn't help but noticed we were thinned out somewhat. I wondered how many matched had actually passed. I thought to myself: "Sheesh I must have really gone to sleep!" However that was something else that didn't matter. All that mattered was my fight.

I stretched and jumped as I moved toward the door. I wanted get to the blood back into my limbs. I couldn't be sure who I was up against, especially since I was asleep through the previous matches and hadn't heard the numbers called for my match myself. I wanted to be ready for anything.

I stepped out into the arena and turned my face up the sky. From the placement of the sun I could tell it was later on the afternoon than I had expected. If I had gone out early in the first round, I had apparently been called out late in the second. Lucky for me since that had given me so much time to rest. I basked in the sun and sound of the crowd's cheers for a moment before starting for the ring. I cast a glance to my left, looking for my opponent, as I reached the lip of the disk.

At first all I noticed was her long shimmering brown hair. It fell from high on her head – in some sort of ponytail – to his hips. Just under where her hair stopped were several multicolored loops. At first I thought they might be part of her outfit. The rings dangled gracefully by her side as she walked. But then I noticed one of the rings was broken. The end of it stopped suddenly and was capped with a small cylinder. I turned more fully to the girl and saw that the rings were actually the looped length of jump rope.

My opponent turned towards me and the jump-rope girl smiled.

My first thought was that I was lucky. I quickly brushed that idea aside. This girl had gone out first, with an opponent who looked like he would beat her easily, and come back moments later with a victory. I didn't want to be the next notch in her belt. And so I went with my second instinct which was so study her carefully.

She was my height and looked to be around my age. She wasn't wearing anything associated with the academy but since she must have been a student to sign up, she was probably in my grade. I searched my memories for her but it seemed like I could only remember her as the girl jumping rope earlier that day. I searched her face and her walk for something that I recognized but it wasn't until we hoped up on the ring and the light flashed off her clip that I found something I remembered.

I recognized that clip. I saw it often as I moved through the halls at school. The girl was in my grade, and in the homeroom down the hall from mine. I normally only saw her during breaks and even then she had her head so deep in a manga that I only got a good look at the hair clip holding back her bangs.

Other that than I usually heard her, instead of saw her. She would be wailing away at the grade posting boards or shouting something across the dining room at lunch. She was whirlwind of excitable energy – much like myself – but we had just never crossed paths.

As we stopped on the ring and turned to face one another across its expanse I wondered if I hadn't pass her on the training field. Maybe I had rushed past her on my way to my own training while she was hard at work on whatever techniques had secured her victory her last time out. Perhaps she had noticed me as I blindly moved past her.

I tensed. If I was facing an opponent that knew me when I didn't know them, I could be in big trouble.

The announcer took to the ring. This one was different from the announcer from the first round. The man, wearing dress pants and a dress shirt with the sleeves round up, didn't wave at the crowd as he approached us. He was less hyped-up than his female counterpart. Even with everything else going on, I noticed he had a cool almost mysterious air. He came to talk to me first.

"So Ama-san," he said. "That was quite the victory you gave last round. Anything to say about it?"

"Not really," I said. I was still looking at the jump-rope girl. She was smiling at me.

"I see," the man said. "Well I know you're eager to get started this round, but is there anything you'd like to say your opponent?"

I could have said a lot of things but for some reason I could only think of one thing. I smiled and said: "I like your hair clip."

My opponent smiled wider. Somehow now her smile seemed more genuine, like she wanted to come over to me and give me a hug.

The announcer smiled at me in a puzzled manner and said nothing. He just smiled, nodded and left me to cross the ring to my opponent. The crowd wasn't exactly quiet but humming with non-stop murmuring. The announcer cast one last look at me before addressing the jump-rope girl.

"So Hana-chan," he began. "You and Ama-san seem to be about the same age -"

""We're in the homerooms right next to one another!" the girl said. She spoke the words so fast and so suddenly it was clear she had cut the man off.

"Oh? So you're friends then?"

And then a soon as it had come, her smiled was gone. She sort of deflated. "Well no," he muttered. "Not really. But I've always admired her! I entered the tournament because I knew she would be in it and I might get a chance to challenge her!"

The announcer seemed nothing less than impressed. He smiled in an approving way, like teachers generally do at students. Then he started talking. Whatever he said made Hana-san blush and giggle. But I didn't hear it. I was too busy worrying.

I had been right unfortunately. Inside my head, I could almost hear Tetsu nagged voice, telling me that I should have been watching out and being careful. This girl who I knew nothing about, had been training and waiting and planning, just to meet me in the ring. Why had I been so pig-headed? Why hadn't I been watching around me for possible competition? I could only imagine how Tad was feeling, watching me. It was a mistake he would never make.

I tried to breathe through my discomfort. And that's all it was, discomfort, nothing more. This was just a distraction and I couldn't afford to get distracted. The announcer was walking away from Hana-chan. My opponent was facing me for the start of the match. A hush was settling over the arena. The bell rang and the match began.

Immediately I tensed and coiled.

I planned on jumping and taking to the air. Riding a wind current I would rain hell down on the jump-rope girl. The I would drop and fall back. How she took that first attack would determined my pace for the rest of the battle. It was my standard plan, that was typical of me but why mess with a good strategy? It had worked before. It was the sort of plan that left me with wiggle room, incase this girl had really studied up in my as much as I thought she had.

I jumped, but I never reached the peak of the movement. Half up, my momentum halted. Whiplash shot through my body. It felt like vise clamped down on my left ankle. It was same ankle Muscle-man had grabbed. Then I was flying. It wasn't normal flying; it was me being pulled through the air with no control at all. The feeling made me nauseous. Air was rushing past me on all side. I hiccuped and felt Kaoru-san's flavored water on the back of my tongue.

Then in one muted, impossibly hard thump it all stopped.

I coughed. Flavored water and bile filled the back of my throat and I swallowed it without thinking. It was disgusting. I was laying on my side but my face was turned down. I could taste dirt and grass. My whole body hurt as a rolled onto my back, but it was nothing compared to my ankle. It was screaming in pain. I could feel the throbbing in my knee, it was so bad.

But oddly enough, I felt calm. I lay on my back and breathed in very slowly. I could see but wasn't looking at anything. I tried to fixate on something that would give me direction. I needed something to give me a clue as to what happened. I thought drifted through my head at about the same time.

I'm going to need so much ice for my ankle. It really hurts.

Finally I found something to latch onto. The big view screens at the top of the arena was titled down ever so slightly. That was so they could be seen by the crowd nearest to floor. From where I was I could see myself in one of them. I was lying on my in grass. I looked sort of dazed.

In the grass.

I was in the grass that surrounded the ring.

I was outside the ring.

I'd lost.

I blinked a few times then took a deep breath. With one push, I sat up. Hana-san was standing on the ring looking down at me. In her right hand was the end of her jump-rope. The multicolored rope lead away from her and down to outside of the ring. It followed the trail with my gaze all the way to where the rope wrapped around my foot.

It was odd to see it there. It didn't make sense that a light little jump-rope could be vice on my limb. But it was. I leaned over and picked at rope until I could push it off then stood up. Pain shot through my ankle. I stumbled forward but caught myself. For a moment I stood very still. I wanted to a make sure I wasn't going to fall. When I was confident I wouldn't end up in the dirt, I looked up at Hana-san, bowed a little, then turned to limp off.

It was a few dozen steps to the stairs. Once I made it that far, I leaned on the banister for support. I thought I heard Hana-san call my name as I walked away, but I didn't turn around.

The medic team was waiting for me midway up the stairs. I talked to them, but none of the words made any sense to me. They let me pass without looking at my ankle. The inner hallways of the arena were pretty empty. I still ran into a few people. They said something to me like "Sorry for you loss" or something equally stupid but I didn't listen. It was only when the afternoon sunlight hit my face that I tuned back in.

It was noisy outside. I was surrounded by people and colors and crowds. I just melted into the background in the middle of all that. And everything just got all blurry.

I felt this sudden rush of energy. All my pain was gone and it like I was flying. Everything around me was a streaky mess. I was was certain that I was rushing through space and time in a straight bullet's path, cutting through the air like a blade. It was like screaming with joy or riding a roller coaster. I was mindless.

When my lungs burned and legs gave out, I was surprised not to be in some random cross section of this world and another. I was actually at the lake Tad had taught me to swim in. The air smelt like plants and the animals Kaa-san had taught me to hunt as a little pup. I thought, for moment that I had gone back in time after all.

I tried to breath in as best I could. My body was shaking. The movement made my ankle hurt even more. I was sitting on my knees. I couldn't see it, but the limb felt huge, two or three times its normal size. I almost laughed, thinking that I was going to need so much ice.

It took me awhile to notice that my face was wet and that my eyes stung. I rubbed my tears away with my palm of my hands and tried to breath. Once I thought I could handle it, I tried to move.

I failed the first time. I failed miserably. Pain shot up my leg all the way to my knee. I screeched pretty loudly. It hurt so much that I couldn't think of mustering the pride to shut my mouth and swallow the noise. I spent several minutes too sick with pain to move or think. Thankfully the second and third attempts were a little less horrible. I knew what to expect so I grit my teeth and moved in short quick bursts. But by the time I had my legs stretched out in front of me, I was exhausted. I just lay back on ground and cried.

It wasn't loudly crying. I wasn't sobbing. If I were sobbing, my body would have shook and that meant my ankle would have hurt even more. I wondered if it was broken after all that running. Whether it was or wasn't, I only cried a little while, then I slept a little. If I wasn't sleeping I was close to it. Everything was so quiet and peaceful. It felt almost good.

After I felt calm again, I rolled onto my side. My ankle still hurt but it had died down again. The pain didn't make me sick. In fact, I yawned. With my arms and good leg for leverage and shifted to hopped up on my right foot. First I crotched, then I stood. My left foot wasn't touching the ground.

I wasn't swaying but I still felt shaky. It told myself it was nerves and closed my eyes. In my head, I counted to ten. On ten I was going to put my left foot down and see how it felt. If it hurt too badly I would lay down and start screaming. Sooner or later someone had to find me. And if it didn't hurt, I'd walk home. Simple. I relaxed my muscles, dropped my shoulders and put my foot down.

The toes went first. Not bad. Then the ball of my foot. Okay. Arch, hell, I was all the way down. There was only one test to go. Weight. I wasn't hurting yet. I put my weight on it and screamed.

The pain was unbearable. It was like taking an ax to my ankle. My knees crumpled under me. I expected to hit the ground but never did. My ears were ringing. I wasn't sure why. It took me a long time to figure out someone was shouting my name in my face. This unruly mop of blue-black hair was shifting in front of me.

"Te-kun?" I couldn't believe he'd found me.

The mop of blue-black shook. At almost the same time the pain in my ankle faded. I took a breath, by the time I breathed out again the pain had reduced again. Finally my eyes could focus again.

The mop of wild blue-black curls did not belong to Tetsu. This boy was bigger than Te-kun with dog eyes and wolfish features. He grinned and showed a mouth full of teeth. I went to get up, but someone behind me stopped it.

When I turned another dark haired wolf was sitting behind me with her hands on my shoulders. She smiled a little. Her hair was so long it pretty much covered her face. Somehow she reminded me of Herika-chan.

"Hi," I said. My voice was so tiny it didn't even sound like me.

"Hello, Amaterasu-san," she said.

"You, uh … you know me?"

"Sure we do."

The voice came from down by my foot. A boy, maybe three years younger than myself, was sitting my foot weaving a healing spell around my injured limb. The boy up looked from my ankle and I paused a moment. The boy had dark brownish-black hair and deep brown eyes. His face was rather serious for kid. He looked like a little version of Kaasan.

"We know all about you, Inugami Amaterasu."

I wrinkled my nose in confusion. "That's Inugami-Springfield."

"Oh we know." The older boy crouching by my right side reached up and began to pet my head. "Everyone knows who your sire is. He's famous! And so is your dam."

"Dam?"

"Your mother," the little boy said. "We know who your parents are."

"Oh. Okay." I looked from one of the wolves to the other. "So um, you know me. Who are you?"

"I'm Inugami Miyu," the girl behind my said. "The oldest at sixteen."

"No one cares that you're the oldest Miyu!" the boy to my right snapped. "I'm nearly sixteen myself!" He rolled his eyes at her then turned to me. "I'm Inugami Jirou. That's our Toutokun, Inugami Yusei."

"Hello," the boy said. His voice was very even. That reminded my of Kaasan too.

"Hi," I responded. "So is it weird that we have the same last name, or that you're here right now. Because honestly I'm … sort of freaked out."

"Freaked out?" the girl yipped. "What I cute phrase!" She laughed. It sounded like bark.

"You're really a weird girl," Jirou-san barked. He ruffled my hair one last time before taking away his hand.

"I think she's smart," Yusei muttered. "She doesn't jump to conclusions. That's good."

"Whatever," Jirou-san responded and waved his hand at his brother. "In any case, assumptions aside, our mother is Inugami Ruri. Her younger half-brother is Inugami Kotaro, your dam."

"So we're cousins!" Miyu-san cut in.

She seemed really excited. Jirou-san and Yusei-kun were smiling too. I was still feeling sort of numb.

"Oh," I muttered. "That's cool, I guess."

I'm not sure why, but they all laughed at that. They thought it was very interesting response. I smiled a bit. They were weird.


End file.
